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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Charlestown Food Safety and Health Update

Health Department conducts half a dozen recent inspections of local food establishments
By Will Collette

On June 13, we ran an article on how well 35 Charlestown and other local restaurants and food stores did in their most recent state Health Department inspections.

Getting the best Health Department reviews for health and safety in that earlier article were the Willows, Small Axe Café, Breachway Grill, Wilcox Tavern, Gentleman Farmer, Dunkin Donuts, Matunuck Oyster Bar, Sea Goose Grill, and Vetrano’s. Cumberland Farms was, far and away, the cleanest food store.

Five of the establishments I listed in the June 13 article have had new inspections since then – Dunkin’ Donuts, Galapagos (Dave’s Coffee), Gentleman Farmer, George’s of Galilee and the Matunuck Oyster Bar.

I also added the Corner Deli to the list due to their recent inspection results.

Here’s what the new Health Department inspections tell us.



There were three Charlestown inspections done on June 28 by an inspector who clearly was watching sanitation issues very closely because all three establishments took a big hit. They racked up a total of 21 violations.

The Corner Deli drew nine violations, almost entirely for sanitation issues that seemed pretty serious to me.

Dunkin Donuts, which had been doing pretty well in prior inspections, drew five violations, all for sanitation issues.

Galapagos, host to Dave’s Coffee, drew seven sanitation related violations.

The Gentleman Farmer was inspected on June 14 and drew two food safety related violations.

George’s of Galilee was inspected on June 25. In my June 13 article, I noted that they had only had three violations in the last inspection. However, this new inspection drew ten violations for sanitation and food safety issues.

Only the Matunuck Oyster Bar came out clean in their latest inspection. That inspection was done on June 1 and found no violations. In my earlier article, I noted that they had drawn one minor violation in their prior inspection. They now top the local charts for health and safety…not to mention being an outstanding restaurant, in my opinion, that’s worth the sometimes long wait for a table.

Health Department reports are only one of many factors I consider in making my personal choices about food establishments.  You can look up these and other food establishments for yourself by clicking here.

If I have mentioned one of your favorite spots and you want to read more of the details behind my brief summary of their most recent inspection report, that’s where you should go.

Also, for your convenience, I have cut-and-pasted the inspection reports noted in this article into one document that you can read by clicking here.

Happy, and safe, eating!